Mask for a Blossom
By: Neko9406
Disclaimer: I own very little of this story, but I must say that this story is largely due to Patricia Briggs' Masques. After reading this book I found many similarities to Kakashi and Sakura which led me to create my own story for them. If you believe that I am a plagiarist then please make your opinion known to me so that I can delete this story before it spreads itself anymore then you want it. Thank you and now to begin.
Chapter One:
The healing of the Wolf hadn't taken long, but the infection induced fever took almost a month, during which Sakura had no choice but to stay for hours with the poor creature, she being the only human that the Wolf seemed to even remotely trust. The recovery process had taken even longer than that, spanning for almost two and a half month before the Wolf was deemed fit enough to leave the small shack, which lay on the outskirts of the castle walls, he was confined to.
'Truthfully,' Sakura thought to herself as she watched the silver-grey wolf streak across the meadow into the forest she found him 'It wouldn't have taken that long if the creature hadn't tried to force itself to leave so many times!'
Sakura remembered the first time the Wolf had attempted to leave, a few days into the fever, he had torn the stitches she had carefully made in the Wolf's right shoulder, there had been a wound she hadn't noticed-right being the side the wolf was laying on-. Blood had been everywhere! Sakura thanked her strong sense of smell, if she hadn't smelled the blood than the Wolf most probably would have left and died in the forest from delirium and blood lost.
The second time the Wolf attempted to leave was a day, or night in this case, after the fever had broken. If Raido hadn't heard the scratching at the shack door and gone to investigate the Wolf would probably have escaped into the woods that night. Raido gained a nice scar across his face because of it, which almost led Genma into hysterics. Genma, resigned to the fact that his young mistress was determined to house and care for the beast, declared that the beast should at least be tethered securely.
Sakura giggled as she remembered the small feud that erupted between her Wolf and Genma. The following night, her and Naruto's sixth birthday in fact, Iruka, who had taken over Raido's night patrol until he was admitted from the hospital, heard scratching at the door of the shack. Peeking through one of the small windows he saw that the Wolf was attempting to grasp the door knob, the rope that had tied him to a post Genma had hammered into the floor was neatly chopped in two, probably by the Wolf's fangs.
Genma then proceeded to use iron next, which the Wolf had somehow managed to unhook from the post. Next came hobbling the Wolf, which had worked for two weeks, until Raido and Genma, Genma wasn't about to let his friend become Wolf bait ever again, saw a silver muzzle pushing through a slowly opening door of the shack. A loud fight then broke out between Genma and the Wolf, resulting in a scar across the Wolf's left eye, the one that glittered like rubies, and a sharp nip on Genma's rump.
At each attempted escape the Wolf kept tearing open the stitching, or strain himself, until he was in worse shape than he was if he had not attempted escape. Sakura sighed as she saw the Wolf's tail disappear into the Konoha Forest. Despite her best six year old efforts, she had not been able to become friends with the Wolf. He wouldn't even eat in her presence. During the fever she had to force the food, mashed up for easy swallow, into his mouth.
At first, in the early days of the fever, he hadn't even swallowed the food, always spiting it back out, until he was so weak Sakura began to fear that he would die in her care. So she had stated, very slowly and clearly, to the wolf that if he didn't eat anything then he would die, and not to worry "'cuz the food isn't poisoned, since Ibiki, he's the head cook you know, used to be one of Papa's inquisitors and he know every poison, herb, and plant there is in the Konoha!" It seemed that the wolf had understood her, since the next time she offered him food he had eaten it. Yet, after the fever, the Wolf had refused to eat in front of her, always waiting for her to leave it and return for an empty tray.
"Ra-chan! Are you go'na stand ther' all day?" Naruto called down from a castle window, all that could be seen of him was his bright yellow hair and waving hand. "Papa says that he wants to tell us something really 'portant!"
Sakura smiled up at his older brother, "Coming To-chan!" and walked back to the castle, breathing in the cooling air; fall would soon over take summer.
/
Kakashi wandered through the Forest of Konoha uncertain where to go. Should he stay there, it was summer so food and prey wouldn't be scarce. Go back to the girl who had saved him? Or, Gods save his mentality, return to him? None of them truly appealed to him, especially not the last.
If he stayed in the forest he probably could live there for the rest of his life, yet the risk of being found and dragged back to him was great. Even if he did stay, how would he gain control over the second chakra that was coiled in his body ready to strike at a single moment of weakness? What if, when or if he did lose control, he destroyed this forest? That would be the largest beacon he could possibly send to him. Besides why should his foolishness kill the lives of the creatures, innocent as they were? He was tired of killing, regardless of innocence.
Going back to the girl child would have much the same consequences, but there was an even greater threat than simply killing people. She was warmth, the people around her were warmth, and his very presence was the destruction of something so good. But if he stayed, even for an hour longer than he had, he would have grown soft and dependent on the warmth that had never touched him. Besides, if he ever found him in the company of such good people, worse yet if he realized that the pink haired girl was warming Kakashi's heart, he would corrupt them. He woulddestroy them just to punish Kakashi.
The Wolf felt his hackles rise at the thought. He couldn't let that happen, not even to the annoying guardsman with that needle he constantly crewed on. The best way to protect them, and him, would be to return to him. The Wolf whimpered and whined in Kakashi's mind at the idea, but the human, more dominant side simply sighed. He immediately understood that he would have to return to that place, the place he had run from, that place where he his father ruled as the Kamikage over the Land of Chakra.
Kakashi, Kamikage's son, was going to return to his father's side once more in order to protect his new found warmth. Disgruntled at the very thought Kakashi loped off in the direction to the Kamikage's castle.
Notes:
Kamikage:
God shadow is the title given to the most powerful and honorable Chakra user in the Land of Chakra, as voted upon by all the Chakra users. The one given this title holds the Master jutsus that control any and all human Chakra users. Kamikage's generally reside in the Kamikage's castle, said to have been built after the First Great Chakra Wars as a sign of peace.
Kamikage's Castle:
Known as the Palace of Spirit, it is said that the First Kamikage originally wanted to build one in each Country. After complaints from all the Daimyos' He relented and settled on building a magnificent palace at the point where a part of all the countries connect. Over the centuries many Kamikages have rebuilt, built upon, or demolished, sections of the palace to the point where no one truly knows what the original looks like and if the palace really rests on the point where all the countries connect.
Land of Chakra:
Also known as the Land of the Spirit, this land is one of three: The Land of the Body, The Land of the Mind, and The Land of the Spirit.
Daimyo:
There is one Daimyo in each of the Countries in the Land of Chakra: Fire, Water, Stone, Wind, Sound, Lightning, Earth, and Waves.
Konoha:
One of the major cities in the Land of Fire. This is where Sakura and Naruto were brought up.